Fresh snowfall disconnects Valley from outer world

12 persons injured as boulder hits vehicle on Srinagar-Jammu highway

Srinagar, Feb 06: Valley was once again cut off from the outer world on Wednesday as fresh snow and rains lashed Kashmir.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway was closed as the Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to Kashmir, experienced fresh snowfall leaving the road slippery, while incessant rains triggered landslides and shooting-of-stones at several places including Anokhi fall, Battery Cheshma and Panthiyal, officials said.

The inclement weather is hampering the road clearance operation, they said, adding once the weather improves, efforts would be made to restore traffic on the highway as early as possible.

The highway had remained closed for over 15 days since the beginning of the new year owing to intermittent spells of snowfall and rains. On Tuesday, the one-way traffic was allowed from Srinagar towards Jammu after five days.

High altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir experienced fresh spell of snowfall, while the plains were lashed by rains since Tuesday night.

The Met office has already predicted widespread to fairly widespread rain and snow across the state till tomorrow evening.

The air traffic between Kashmir and other places was also suspended today due to heavy snowfall across the Valley.

All the 27 flights scheduled to arrive at the Srinagar Airport were cancelled today due to poor visibility, an official of the Airport Authority of India said.

Meanwhile, At least 12 passengers, including a woman, were injured after their vehicle was hit by a boulder along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, which had to be closed for traffic on Wednesday following fresh snowfall and incessant rains, officials said.

The Jammu-bound vehicle was hit by a shooting stone from a hillock overlooking the highway at Moumpassi-Ramsu in Ramban district late Tuesday evening, causing serious injuries to the woman, who is from Bihar, and minor injuries to 11 others, they said.

Most of the injured were discharged after first-aid, while the woman who has suffered head injuries, has been referred to the Government Medical College Hospital Jammu, they said.

Nine Bihar residents and one each from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were travelling from Srinagar to Jammu in the vehicle driven by a local driver from Anantnag, the officials said.